Chapter 111: Binding Contract
Krima's body suddenly went rigid.
His crimson eyes flickered, then blazed with a different light entirely, deeper, older, mad.
When he spoke, it wasn't his voice.
"Charlotte Silvi."
The voice was layered, thousands of voices speaking as one. Female, male, neither, both. The voice of the Goddess of Madness herself, speaking through her chosen vessel.
"Sularao.", she said, tone dripping with amusement, "Finally decided to show up? Or are you still too scared to manifest directly?"
The possessed Krima, no, the Goddess stepped forward carefully. Respectful but cautious, like approaching a coiled serpent.
"You know why I cannot manifest fully. Not yet, not while the chains still bind me."
"Excuses.", Charlotte sneered, leaning casually on the coffin, "The great Goddess of Madness, reduced to puppeting a teenage boy. How embarrassing."
"This is not your concern, Argent Monarch."
"Oh, but it is.", Charlotte's azure eyes narrowed, "Because you're about to throw your precious followers into a meat grinder, and I'm not interested in cleaning up the mess."
The Goddess's borrowed face remained impassive, "The expedition must proceed. It is prophesied—"
"Prophecies are suggestions.", Charlotte interrupted, "And this one? It will fail spectacularly."
She tapped the coffin with one finger.
"This is your last chance. Cancel it. Wait and prepare properly."
"We have prepared for years—"
"You've prepared for nothing.", Charlotte's voice turned cold, "As long as the Ego remains dethroned, this world cannot be free. Until that changes, every attempt to breach the North will end in slaughter."
Silence fell over the gathered crowd.
The Goddess stared at Charlotte for a long moment, "You speak in riddles."
"Motherfucker, I am literally stating facts as easy to understand as possible!", Charlotte turned away, dismissive and a bit ticked off, "Do what you want. Die if you must. Just don't expect me to save you when it all goes wrong."
A blue portal tore open in the air beside her.
Something emerged. A vehicle in gray, sleek, impossibly advanced compared to anything in this world. Curved metal body and glass windows.
Those from the blue planet called Earth might recognize it as a Honda Civic, a machine that had no business existing here. The vehicle had no driver, no one in the seats at all. But it flashed its light as if there was someone driving.
Charlotte walked to it casually, opened the passenger door, and climbed in.
"Remember my warning.", she called out the window, "The North devours the unprepared."
The door closed. The vehicle's engine hummed a sound no one present had ever heard before.
It drove in a circle, turning around and heading back through the blue portal, which snapped shut behind it.
Krima collapsed immediately, gasping. The divine presence left him as suddenly as it had arrived.
Olivier rushed to his side, then turned and knelt before him, head bowed, "My Goddess... who is she? What is the Argent Monarch truly?"
Krima's eyes flickered crimson again, still possessed, but fading.
"Something that should never be provoked, not even a little.",The Goddess' voice was weakening, "She is... an ally of this world. But also its greatest threat. Do not make her your enemy."
"Should we...", Olivier hesitated, "Should we cancel the expedition?"
"No."
The word was absolute.
"We proceed as planned. Charlotte Silvi does not command us. We walk our own path, even if it leads through darkness."
The crimson light faded completely. Krima collapsed fully, unconscious.
Eric stood frozen, staring at where the impossible vehicle had vanished.
What the hell just happened?
=0=0=
The Twilight Gaunt stood motionless inside the summoning circle. But Lea didn't hesitate and immediately bound it with her Cursed Constructs, encasing it in a coffin of darkness and gold.
"Accept me as your new master.", she commanded, her tone cold but shimmering with unrelenting rage.
There are two types of familiar Contracts, a fair one where both parties get something out of the other. The second type is what Lea was attempting.
A Domination Contract.
No mutual benefit, but pure subjugation through overwhelming force and binding magic. The familiar became property, a tool, a slave bound to the summoner's will with no choice in the matter.
The book had warned against this method extensively.
'Domination Contracts require absolute superiority over the target. If the familiar's will exceeds your own, the contract will break and the creature will turn on you. Death is the most merciful outcome. Most dominators end up possessed, consumed, or driven mad.'
Lea smiled viciously.
Let it try.
She'd survived Dream's Grave. Conquered the Labyrinth of the Mind. And granted the title Faceless Twilight by a god.
And this creature? This demon that had hunted her in her weakest moments?
It would kneel.
Lea raised her hand, palm open. Golden light blazed from her skin as she carved new curses directly into her flesh with her willpower alone. The summoning circle beneath the Twilight Gaunt pulsed in response, growing brighter.
"By the authority granted to me by the God of Order.", Lea began, her voice resonating with power that wasn't entirely her own.
A faint joyful laughter echoes from somewhere, as if confirming her affiliation.
"By my title as Faceless Twilight—"
The demon finally moved.
Its head snapped toward her, and despite having no eyes, Lea felt its gaze. Cold and ancient.
Not older than time, but older than reality itself.
"—I claim dominion over you."
The demon's wings flared. Its clawed hands flexed.
Lea's Cursed Constructs tightened, squeezing harder. Golden light burned through the cage, searing the creature's pale flesh. It made no sound, but its body convulsed.
"You are a Servant of the Lord of Abyssal Depth.", Lea continued, stepping closer to the cage, "And I have conquered your master's realm. I walked through Dream's Grave and survived."
"Twilight Gaunt, haunter of dreams and minds, I have earned the right to command you."
She pressed her palm against the construct cage, cutting her own hand, and let blood flow. Her blood sizzled where it touched the cursed material, mixing with the golden light.
"Your purpose is to serve me. Your will is now mine. Your existence belongs to me."
The Twilight Gaunt thrashed suddenly, violently. Its strength was immense, Fourth Step demigod, or maybe higher.
The cage cracked, and the golden light flickered.
Lea's smile widened.
"Struggle all you want.", she hissed, pouring more power into the binding, "It won't change anything."
She activated her Malediction Path fully, letting her rage fuel the curse. All her anger at being helpless, at being used, at being hunted and tortured, and dragged into that horrible place.
All of it channeled into one overwhelming command...
"Kneel."
The word hit like a physical force. The Twilight Gaunt's legs buckled. Its wings folded. Its body collapsed to the floor of the cage, pressed down by the sheer weight of Lea's will made manifest.
The summoning circle flared white-hot.
Lea felt the connection snap into place, a cord of energy linking her soul to the demon's essence. A chain wrapped around the creature's very being, anchoring it to her completely.
The Domination Contract sealed with a pulse of sickly pale light.
The Twilight Gaunt went completely still.
Lea lowered her hand, breathing hard. The construct cage dissolved, freeing the demon.
It remained kneeling.
"Stand.", she commanded.
The demon rose immediately, movements fluid and obedient.
"Show me what you can do."
The Twilight Gaunt's form shimmered. Its body became translucent, half-fading into shadow. Then it moved, impossibly fast, crossing the room in an instant. Its claws raked through the air where Lea's head had been a moment before.
She hadn't moved.
The attack stopped a hair's breadth from her skin, the demon frozen mid-strike.
Because she hadn't given permission to hurt her.
"Good...", Lea said quietly, satisfaction burning in her chest, "You'll do perfectly."
She walked to the demon, reached up, and placed her hand on its faceless head. It didn't flinch. Couldn't flinch.
"From now on, you are mine. You hunt who I tell you to hunt. You kill whom I tell you to kill. And when I command you to throw yourself into oblivion..."
Lea's golden eyes blazed.
"You do it happily."
The Twilight Gaunt stood silent.
Lea finally allowed herself to relax slightly, exhaustion from the ritual catching up to her.
One familiar wasn't enough. She'd need more. An army of these things, if possible. Servants of the Unconscious turned into her personal hunting pack.
But for now, one was a start.
She looked at the demon, at the creature that represented everything that had hunted and tortured her.
And now it was her tool.
"Welcome to your new life," Lea said softly, turning away, "I hope you hate it as much as I hated Dream's Grave."
The demon followed her silently as she left the study.